Every other night for about two months, an Orange City man climbed utility poles and stripped the poles of their copper ground wire, Volusia County deputy sheriffs said. Monday evening they arrested Joseph Winfrey, 49, accusing him of stealing copper while damaging or interfering with a utility and dealing in stolen property, Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. An anonymous tip led investigators to Winfrey, Davidson said. They caught up with Winfey last week as he was selling copper at a recycling business, he said.

The AC unit in Marjorie Melvin's travel trailer was cranking last week. But who was paying for the electric bill? Turns out, there was a makeshift power hook-up providing juice to her tiny slice of the Ocala National Forest. Someone jammed barbecue tongs at the top of a power pole to crudely complete a connection between a Sumter Electric Cooperative line and the property, a patch of woods and dirt in south Marion County, north of Umatilla. Melvin, 55, and Denver Norris, 58, who lives in a mobile home on the land, were booked into the Marion County Jail after 6 p.m. Thursday, charged with stealing $700 worth of electricity, A power-company worker spotted the tongs last week and contacted deputies.

Hours after Hurricane Isaac made landfall in southeast Louisiana Tuesday evening, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said power poles were lying across the highway near his house, and trees and debris were everywhere. Isaac came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane at 6:45 p.m., pummeling the Gulf Coast with 80 mph winds. "The wind is blowing so hard you can't see 20 feet in front of your face," Nungesser told the Weather Channel late Tuesday. Earlier in the evening, he said, he took a drive to assess the situation but turned back when he couldn't see the hood of his car. At 11 p.m. Central time, Isaac's eye was about 65 miles south of New Orleans, the National Hurricane Center said, moving about eight miles an hour.

A truck carrying orange juice crashed in Lake County Monday, taking down power poles and causing a mess that took hours to clean up. The tractor-trailer was traveling south on County Road 33 near Austin Merritt Road about 5:05 p.m. when the driver, Allan Amador, 52, of Lakeland, lost control, hit a fence and the poles and clipped a car, the Florida Highway Patrol said. The truck overturned onto its side, spilling the juice, troopers said. The stretch of road, north of Groveland and Mascotte and south of Florida's Turnpike, was expected to remain closed until sometime overnight while the mess and the wreckage were removed.

Summers in Florida are notorious for being excessively hot and humid, with hurricanes a constant threat. But the mild and sunny winters are marvelous. Or at least that's what the chamber of commerce types like to say. However, as true as that often is, there is always the exception. For example, this winter marks the 10th anniversary of a rare, freakish March storm that left 33 Floridians dead and more than $75 million in damages in its wake. Remarkably, only a couple of the deaths were reported in Lake County, but Mount Dora was ground zero for the worst of the storm's wrath.

Firefighters battled two fires Saturday that have burned across 125,000 acres of brush in three weeks. Fire crews were in control of 80 percent of one of the fires, which has burned about 115,000 acres, and they expect it to be fully contained by early this week. Some 850 firefighters were ready for a break after three straight weeks of effort. Most of what burned is sagebrush and desert scrub pine in areas of central Utah about 85 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Power poles and fences were lost but no structures or livestock.

EVEN THOUGH we are still cleaning up and waiting for repairs on our home after the March 13 storm, we want to take the time to thank Lake County's volunteer firefighters and the Sheriff's Office for checking on us hours after the tornadoes hit.Also, a great big thanks to Sumter Electric Cooperative and the Peace River Electric Cooperative for getting our power back on after four days. Power poles were down all over our neighborhood.Joan E. Boby, EUSTIS

SAN FRANCISCO - A rare, spectacular lightning storm flashed through the Bay area, bringing hail, rain and power failures, some of which were still being restored Thursday. At its peak Wednesday night, the storm cut power to about 55,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers. That figure was down to 9,400 by early Thursday, a utility spokeswoman said. For about 12 hours, the storm touched off hundreds of lightning strikes from San Francisco to the Santa Cruz Mountains, 60 miles south. Trees and power poles were set on fire, making it dangerous for crews to fix electricity failures affecting spots from the Oregon line to Bakersfield.

An editorial about Orlando's approval of the Oscar trolley for downtown drew these remarks:''(A trolley) is wrong for the city and a step back into the 19th century instead of going ahead into the 21st century, as you opine,'' wrote A.F. Gagne of Kissimmee.''(Trolley) cars on rails obstruct a full lane of traffic because they stop every block or two and cannot pull over to the curb when they do,'' wrote Warren Birge of Orlando. ''The overhead trolley wires, and the cross wires stretching from the power poles that support them, are ugly . . . . Finally, the construction mess involved in installing rails, cross-ties and power poles along the route would likely be worse and last longer than what downtown just finished going through for the past several years.

An osprey shut down Interstate 4 during Orlando's Friday afternoon rush hour, stranding thousands of commuters and clogging alternate routes with I-4 refugees.The hourlong shutdown began at 5 p.m. after an osprey dropped a branch from its nest atop a power pole at I-4 and Lee Road. The branch hit a power line and set the pole ablaze, said Melanie Forbrick, a Florida Power Corp. spokeswoman.Fearing that a live wire or flaming pole would drop onto traffic, authorities shut down I-4. The wire hung over westbound and eastbound lanes.

Delaney Avenue will be shut down for several hours after a vehicle hit a power pole there, Orlando police said. The road is closed between Ponce De Leon Street and Anderson Street while repairs are made. Police said no one involved in the crash suffered life-threatening injuries.

A power pole fell on a car at Wymore and Lee roads during the Friday-evening rush hour, causing traffic delays and a power outage, authorities said. Power was restored to nearly 400 customers within a few hours of the 6 p.m. accident. Two people were trapped in the car, but no one was seriously hurt, investigators said. sjacobson@tribune.com or 407-540-5981

A driver in Seminole County fell asleep at the wheel and hit a power pole Wednesday morning. The motorist crashed a white minivan into a power pole, sending power lines into the roadway on Rinehart Road near State Road 46 around 1:20 a.m., Seminole County Fire Rescue officials said. The driver refused to be treated and transported to a local hospital, officials said. The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating. jesullivan@tribune.com or 407-420-5620 or @jerriannOS

An Apopka woman was intoxicated when she lost control of her car early Thursday and crashed at a busy intersection in northwest Orange County, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Troopers say 29-year-old Marcy Roebuck was driving eastbound on Clarcona Ocoee Road about 3:25 a.m. and lost control as she tried to turn southbound onto Orange Blossom Trail. Roebuck traveled onto the sidewalk and struck a power pole, knocking out power at the intersection. Roebuck was arrested for DUI and charged with speeding.

Bring back trees Please tell me that 2012 will be the year the city of Orlando brings back the Christmas trees that used to decorate the power poles. One of the signs that the holiday season had begun was seeing the Orlando Utilities Commission putting up those somewhat tacky, glittery trees. Don't tell me the city can't afford it. I am willing to bet there is an army of volunteers willing and able to do the job. If that is not an option, how about a local sponsor willing to foot the bill — hello, Orlando Magic?

Hours after Hurricane Isaac made landfall in southeast Louisiana Tuesday evening, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said power poles were lying across the highway near his house, and trees and debris were everywhere. Isaac came ashore as a Category 1 hurricane at 6:45 p.m., pummeling the Gulf Coast with 80 mph winds. "The wind is blowing so hard you can't see 20 feet in front of your face," Nungesser told the Weather Channel late Tuesday. Earlier in the evening, he said, he took a drive to assess the situation but turned back when he couldn't see the hood of his car. At 11 p.m. Central time, Isaac's eye was about 65 miles south of New Orleans, the National Hurricane Center said, moving about eight miles an hour.

Nearly 900 homes and businesses were without power for more than two hours and classes at West Orange High School were dismissed shortly before noon Wednesday when a tractor-trailer hit a sagging power line on State Road 50.Winter Garden police Sgt. Bill Heath said Berry Gibson of Riverview was traveling west on State Road 50 when the cab snagged the line.Heath said three other power poles were broken, and two or three others were bent.He said he did not know what caused the first line to droop.

A truck carrying orange juice crashed in Lake County Monday, taking down power poles and causing a mess that took hours to clean up. The tractor-trailer was traveling south on County Road 33 near Austin Merritt Road about 5:05 p.m. when the driver, Allan Amador, 52, of Lakeland, lost control, hit a fence and the poles and clipped a car, the Florida Highway Patrol said. The truck overturned onto its side, spilling the juice, troopers said. The stretch of road, north of Groveland and Mascotte and south of Florida's Turnpike, was expected to remain closed until sometime overnight while the mess and the wreckage were removed.

The Winter Park of 2029 will look different from today's city in at least one big way: Most of the city won't have power poles or overhead electrical lines. For the next 17 years or so, crews will be digging up streets and burying cables in a $70 million effort to beautify the city and make it less vulnerable to the power failures that occur when storms blow down lines. City officials say the change has been welcomed by residents of Winter Park, where tree-lined streets, a point of civic pride, can be marred by power lines.

A 36-year-old Poinciana man was killed Wednesday when he lost control of a Honda he was driving on rain-slicked Cypress Parkway and slammed into a steel power pole, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Driver Jason Moreno was declared dead on the scene and his body had to be extricated from the 2008 Honda convertible. He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Passenger Maria Esther Cruz Garcia, 45, was wearing a seat belt. She in stable condition at Osceola Regional Medical Center.